The city that has been the center of the world twice over
The only city in the world that spans two continents — Europe and Asia, divided by the Bosphorus Strait. Istanbul was the capital of the Byzantine Empire for over a millennium, then of the Ottoman Empire for another five centuries. The food reflects every layer: simit (sesame bread rings sold from street carts at dawn), köfte in Sultanahmet, meze spreads in Karaköy, baklava by the kilo at Hafiz Mustafa, and the best fish sandwich on Earth — fresh mackerel grilled on a rocking boat at the Galata Bridge.
Founded as Byzantium in 660 BCE, the city became Constantinople in 330 CE when Emperor Constantine moved the Roman capital here. It fell to Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II in 1453 after a 53-day siege — ending the Eastern Roman Empire after over 1,000 years and beginning five centuries of Ottoman rule. Modern Turkey was founded in 1923 by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who moved the capital to Ankara — but Istanbul has never stopped being Turkey's cultural, economic, and spiritual heart.